"Do you really want to leave?" I ask Cyrus as he finishes taking off his shoes.
"Yeah, we've already been here a couple hours and I'm getting tired" He starts to put on his own. "Alright then" I sigh, I knew I'd have to tell him eventually, I just didn't think it'd be today.
I drop our shoes off at the counter and Cyrus and I walk out.
"So, Mason was it?"
"Yeah..he was my best friend"
"What happened?" he asks, still avoiding eye contact with me. It's understandable. He has no clue who he is and why I had to talk to him while we were on a date. "I used to like him, and he liked me too" I start, I see Cyrus tense up but he doesn't say anything yet. "We started dating in the beginning of 7th grade but kept it a secret from our friends, much like you and me. But we weren't scared of coming out though. I actually really really wanted to" I had to laugh at this part. I'm a totally different person then from when I was 13.
"I thought it was perfect, he was really nice to me and I thought everything was going great until-" I stop mid sentence.
Until I found out I had dyscalculia.
Crap, I forgot that Cyrus doesn't know about that yet.
"Until what?" He asks me. "Until... until I found out something about myself."
"What did you find out?"
He stopped walking now, we're just two people standing in the middle of the street.
"I have this learning disability" I tell him. He won't judge me. I hope he won't.
His eyes widen, "what?"
"Yeah"I let out shakily. "Dyscalculia, it's like dyslexia-but with numbers" I explain. I await his reaction, I only see confusion on his face. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I..I was afraid" I breathe out, "Last time I told someone was to my old friend group. They called me a freak and Mason broke up with me. He never stood up for me"
Cyrus' POV:
I feel an ache in my heart when Tj tells me this, how could anyone make fun of someone like that? No wonder why Tj is so closed off. He trusted his friends and they left him, even Mason. He's afraid to get hurt again.
I don't know what to say so I just hug Tj instead. I feel him wrap his arms around and a sniffle. He started crying.
"I wouldn't do that to you Tj" I tell him not letting go. "You can never be too sure. Mason and I never ended up coming out together like we intended to. We stopped being friends and after the whole thing, I HATED my school. My so called friends always made fun of me. That's why I transferred." He continues for explain.
I let go from the hug but we still have our arms around each other. We stare at each other for a moment before I realize what's happening.
We were simultaneously leaning in.
I didn't pull back this time though, there was no interruptions.
His lips reached mine and it was perfect.
My first kiss.
And it was with Tj Kippen.
The next day at school was different.
So much happened yesterday:
We came out to everyone, even Buffy, it was our one month, Tj took me on a date, revealed his past that he always steered from telling me.
We walked to school holding hands, and we didn't take the long way. I don't know what it was but everything from yesterday gave us a newfound confidence.
We didn't care about the looks we got from the other students.
We were still getting questions from our friends. But it wasn't bad, slightly annoying, but not bad.
After school we hung out at my house, mostly to do homework.
"Okay new topic today, system of equations" I start. He was sprawled out on my bed and I was sitting at my computer chair.
He groans "Can we do this laterrr"
"C'mon Tj we might quizzed on this next week" I tell him. He looks at me and reaches his hand out. I take it and he pulls me, throwing me beside him on the bed.
"Thank you" he whispers after a moment of staring at the ceiling. "For what?".
"For everything, helping me, accepting me, understanding, the list goes on" I turn my body to face him. "Thank you for being my boyfriend" I tell him before placing a simple kiss on his nose.
He looks at me, studying my face it seems.
"What?"
"You wanna know something?"
"Hm?"
Tj sits up and pulls out his wallet from him pocket, taking out a piece of paper.
"It's funny actually, I drove myself crazy because I liked you. Then I found out you liked me and I still drove myself crazy" he chuckles. "What're you talking about?"
He unfolds the paper before handing it to me.
I can feel my cheeks turn bright red as I recognize what it is.
"How'd you get this?" I ask
"I picked it up after you threw it in your locker" he smiles. I get up from my bed to grab my notebook from my book bag.
"It's pretty cute actually" he continues. I open my book up to the page where I had ripped out the page. "You wanna know something Tj?" I say to him, he looks up at me then to the notebook. "I had ripped out that page from this notebook" I hand it to him. He looks at me questionably before taking it then flipping through the pages.
"I write all my thoughts and stuff in that notebook, you were the first page"
He couldn't help but smile before pulling me into a hug.
"I love you Cyrus" he barely whispers.
It was so unexpected, but it felt good to hear him say those words.
"I love you Tj" I return. He hugs me tighter.
Who would've known that I would fall for the blonde boy.
And that I can call him my boyfriend.
